Ranma : Notes of Sorts
by zoupzuop2
Summary: Ranma leaves the Tendo Dojo, leaving a note. Nobody knows where he's gone, until a band named Bad Shoes plays the Civic Grand Hall... As of 2009 this fic will not be updated.
1. Overture

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts By zoupzuop2

Chapter 1

To Whom It May Concern:

I, Ranma Saotome, have struck out on my own. I felt life here impedes my opportunity to live the life I've wanted to live. I'm a bit tired of my life being fighting or marriage centered… not that I'll be giving up on the art or nothing, it's just that I won't let it dictate my life.

To Mr. Tendo: Thank you for your hospitality and for Akane. I probably never would've lived quite so contently without you.

To Pop: Keep training. When I come back, I wanna spar. Just to see if you've been getting lazy.

To all of my fiancés: You now know my near-final answer. My choice is none of you. So please stop bickering, I WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND.

To Kuno: Bye, you stupid little maggot. Lose the stick and learn to fight. When I get back you're in for it.

To Ryouga: No, I'm not "running away". If you have a problem with me, FIND me.

To Kasumi: No amount of thanks in words or deeds can express my gratitude for what you've done for me. I owe you so much of my life, and you've put up with so much out of me. Please accept my sincerest apologies that I am as of yet unable to repay you somehow.

To Nabiki: 'Bout time I did this. Find your own freaking prostitute to exploit… or, since you have the moral ineptitude of one, use yourself. Only Kuno sees those pictures, so why not give him something new?

To Hiroshi and Daisuke: Don't worry, guys. I'll be back in due time… just don't get caught up in your… misadventures.

To The Old Lecher: Eat crap and burn in hell. I'm going to hunt you down the minute I hear about you coming within 5feet of the breasts of Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, Ukyou, Shampoo, or anyone I happen to know of.

To my individual fiancés: Thank you so much for your support over the years. It's nice to know that people care about me, albeit a strange kind of care (me being naught but a mere love object, after all)

To Kodachi: You're nuttier than the Planters Factory. If you harm a single hair on any of my other ex-fiancés' heads, or any of the Tendo or Saotome families, I WILL FIND OUT.

This is all I have to say. (I guess you didn't know I could use proper grammar in writing, heh?)

-Ranma Saotome

P.S.: Tell Mrs. Saotome that I'm gone if she comes by.

* * *

The letter was posted neatly on the door to the Tendo house, and the breeze whispered to it silently. Dawn had barely awoken and the songbirds almost began their symphonies. 

A sole figure tiptoed up the stairs to the Saotome room. He carried, very gently, a large trout in one hand. On his face he carried a smile. His lazy son had _BETTER_ get up. Or else he'd better like seafood.

The door creaked open softly as Genma entered the room. He assessed the situation and found that his quarry hadn't even twitched. He stepped in closer. Again, there was no response. One more step. Once more his alleged quarry was silent. Genma made his move.

"**WAKE UP, BOY!**" he yelled suddenly, and he swung his trout.

The odd thing was that the blow didn't connect.

"Oh-HO! Don't you start getting cocky, Ranma!" he bellowed as he swung again. This one didn't hit its target either.

Swing! Swoosh! Sling! One by one a flurry of fish-slap flew. Genma could barely see his aquatic assault weapon fly through its deadly swinging.

Finally, something clicked, which was quite a rare event for Genma.

"Boy-…Ranma?"

Genma knelt down and searched the sheets for his son. Each pat pushed the blankets down to the floor, and the more he searched the more the blankets revealed their contents, (which was nothing). Ranma simply wasn't there.

"Hmm… clever trick. I'll find you yet, boy, then you'll WISH you were asleep **forever**."

Genma scowled it to himself, as he plodded out the door to find his prey.

* * *

Soun awoke with a deep sigh of vigor. There was just SOMETHING about the morning air that did that for him. He pushed himself out of bed and got himself out of his western pajamas ("What's so wrong with them being 'Felix the Cat'? Can't a man sleep how he chooses these days?"). Just as he was getting ready to undo the top buttons, he heard a fuss outside of his door. Curious, he approached it, hand almost on the knob. 

He never got to turn it.

**KABLAM!**

The door collapsed flat, with Soun following suit. Genma burst in frantically.

"RAAAANMAAAAAAA!"

Genma began to search the room thoroughly and noisily. Anything that wasn't bolted down was tossed into the center of the room. Anything that WAS bolted down went there anyway.

Soun unburied himself and shakily stood up. "Saotome, what is the meaning of this? Barging into my room like that, and at THIS hour, you'd better have a good reason for—!" The note almost APPEARED in his hand as Genma placed it there, then continued his search. Soun took a moment to glance at what the note said.

Then he helped Genma in his quest to tear apart his room.

* * *

It was Sunday. 

Akane loved Sundays.

They were the one sole day of the week where work or school wasn't mandatory. For a small period of time, some time ago, it was alsothe only day where Akane didn't have to face up to the dreaded "Horde-'o-Hentai" as she (rarely) called them; where she could be, for the most part, at peace.

It was also a day of sleeping in.

This made the monstrous noise in the other room unusual, not forgetting annoying.

Akane tried to bury her head under her pillow to drown out the ungodly noise coming from Dad's room, but to no avail. Finally she burst out of her bed and stormed over to the source of the problem.

The noise, or so Akane believed, was nearly unbearable with the door closed. That was nowhere NEAR the volume when that same door was OPEN.

Kasumi and Nabiki came out of their respective rooms, rubbing their eyes and yawning, wondering what was going on with their father and uncle so early in the morning.

**"DADDY!"**

The noise stopped immediately.

Soun and Genma looked back at Akane, stopping dead in their tracks (also hoping that that'd be as dead as they got, with Akane in this mood).

Nabiki leaned on the doorway. "Doing some early-morning remodeling, dad?"

"What on Earth is going ON here, dad?" Akane demanded. She was altogether NOT too happy. (Of course, not many people woken up earlier than necessary ARE.)

Soun began to bawl, which got rolling eyes from the younger two Tendo daughters and Genma.

"RANMA'S ABANDONED US FOREVER! BAWWWWWW-!"

KER-**SLAP**.

Akane's right hand and arm were on her left side of her body, and a fresh hand-mark formed on her father's face.

"Hold yourself together, dad. Chances are good he'll be back in a few--?"

She glanced over at Genma and saw an odd look in his eye, one she'd never really seen out of him before.

Fear. Concern. Terror.

Akane's face soon followed form.


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts By zoupzuop2 Chapter 2

"He's gone?"

"But why?"

"Airen… why?"

"Oh my."

"Ranchan ditched? But why?"

"OH RANMA-SAMA! BAWWWWWW…"

"PRAISE TO KAMI! THE FOUL SORCEROR HAS RUN IN COWARDICE!"

"HE DID **WHAT**?"

"…My income…"

A rather large crowd of people surrounded photocopies of the letter, which were being passed around by Nabiki (for 100¥ apiece, of course.). The reaction was chaotic.

Of course, that was nothing new to Nerima, but it was still somewhat different. Those two pigtailed people were gone, so what would happen? Who would the weird people from Planet So-and-so chase?

Only one person seemed to be happy with Ranma's absence, and he was later pummeled with his own bokken. Nobody could imagine their lives without Ranma, and the more they tried, the more silent they got.

Of course, the quiet was bound to, and indeed did, break.

"This all violent mallet-girl's fault!"

Shampoo whirled around towards Akane and shot her a deep glare.

"You hit Airen one time too many, 'eh? Now look what done!" Shampoo stepped towards said violent mallet girl.

Akane said nothing.

"Now Airen gone for long time! Because of YOU!" Shampoo's anger fueled to rage. She grabbed one of her Bonbori and swung it above her head. She then brought it down towards her target.

…Or, she would have liked to, had it not been for something holding it back.

Shampoo turned her head to see Ukyo's giant spatula holding her Bonbori in place.

"Lay off her, you bimbo. Maybe you're too stupid to figure out WHY he left instead of blaming someone? Besides, IF you were right, you'd still have your part in it."

Shampoo glared at Ukyou, with her body still facing Akane. "What you mean, Spatula Girl?"

"Don't play stupid. Of course, with YOU, it's hard NOT to, I guess." Ukyo retorted. "About half the beatings Ranma got from Akane were right after YOU pulled one of those stupid glomps you always do."

"Stupid Spatula girl. Ranma like strong Amazon hug. Now let go."

"**HIT HER AND DIE**-!"

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOOOOO!"

Kodachi interrupted the feud.

"You three truly are pitiful. We all know that darling said not to quarrel, and who knows? He may be just testing us as we speak! Then he will finally pick ME from you trollops! OHOHOHOOO!"

Ukyou, Shampoo and Kodachi kept fighting, but Akane didn't move from her spot. She seemed to twitch a bit as the fighting continued on.

This silence didn't last long.

"_STOPPIT!"_

The three tuned to see Akane, fists balled and eyes red and teary. Ukyou dislodged her spatula from Kodachi's head, which in turn caused her to release Shampoo's leg from the ribbon, which in turn made Shampoo remove her Bonbori from Ukyo's skull.

Akane was raging, fighting back massive tears. "There's no point to this! Don't you GET IT? Ranma is **GONE**, for Kami knows how long! No matter how long you fight, it's not going to change a THING!"

She paused to fight back some more tears, but to little avail. This gave her time to let her words sink in, although she didn't fully know that.

Finally she continued. "I-I don't know why he left really, if the purpose is names. Regardless, NONE of us will see his face around here for… for so long…" Akane's war with her tears finally ended with her breaking down. Her knees buckled down beneath her and she fell on her hands and knees, with her head downcast.

Ukyou witnessed the spectacle with awe. She knew that Akane meant something, at least, to Ranma, but she was unaware that Ranma meant this much to Akane.

Shampoo noticed the situation with slight shock, but Kodachi simply stood unfazed.

"I've seen Crocodiles cry truer tears, wench."

Suddenly, Kodachi noticed that she was not standing on land anymore. She was flying in the air, and with no clue as to how, why, and where.

Ukyou lowered her spatula. "Who's the wench around here, bitch?"

Shampoo stared in even deeper awe at Ukyo, then straightened herself out and faced her with a somewhat masked air.

"Why spatula girl blow nutty ribbon girl in L.O.E?" (Even she knew what _that _was.)

"DON'T YOU GET IT? Akane's right, as much as I hate to admit it! Sitting here fighting about this won't do us any good! All we can do is wait for word from him…"

Ukyo looked around. The crowd of people around her was watching the whole dispute, and she was currently the main focus.

Too embarrassed to speak, Ukyou fled the scene as all eyes followed her path. That explained why nobody ever saw Akane do the same thing.


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts 

By zoupzuop2

**Chapter 3**

Another thing Akane loved was music.

Not just any music, though. It had to be GOOOOOOOD for it to be judged by Akane's ears. Trained by closeted choice, Akane was fluent in whatever music was musically professional and yet still marketable. This sort of judgement usually meant that whenever one of those American singers came on the radio, "Switch" went the station.

This time, however, she let it go.

It was some baka named "Danny Elfman". Usually he was with Oingo Boingo, but this time he was doing something from his solo album. (Of course, it is ironic that Ranma had a gigantic stash of Elfman and Boingo CD's in his closet.) The song was titled "Go away". She let it go on, somberly doing her Calculus homework. It was SOMETHING to keep Ranma off her mind, so she did it with more enthusiasm than usual.

Of course, this changed when the lyrics kicked in.

"Every time I see you now it makes me feel so bad,

Reminds me of the memories I wish I never had

Standing in a crowded room too dark for me to see

Someone's pushing from behind just leave me room to breathe

Go Away-…"

Click.

Akane turned off her radio in a rush of action. She couldn't stand the lyrics.

…Or was it what the lyrics MEANT to her, and not the actual lyrics themselves?

_Was he-?_

_Did he-?_

No. She had to stop thinking about him. If music wouldn't help, then what WOULD?

Kasumi entered the room with a basketful of laundry, set it down, and glanced out the window. "Hmm. Vernal Equinox… full moon…"

"Vern-a-Who-and-a-what?"

"…The first day of spring. Usually the sky is clearest around this time, and it makes for great stargazing."

With that she smiled at Akane and turned to leave.

_Dang it, when ISN'T she right?_

Kasumi then left the room.

In a few seconds, so did Akane.

* * *

Tiny specks, that's all they were. They were naught but tiny, white (if not some sort of bright color) specks on a linen black sheet with only the moon nestled atop it. Yet they never ceased to amaze Akane for the time she was up on the roof of her house. She lied down on the shingles of her roof, taking it all in. The gentle breeze offset the warm night; the wind blowing in the trees was the only sonic velvet that caressed her ears. 

Akane sighed.

No wonder Ranma spent so much time up here. Akane spent a moment to wonder what Ranma thought about when he was up here.

For once, thought Akane, one single time in his day, Ranma could be completely uninhibited in his thought… his sort of way to get away from it all.

**SNAP!**

…For example, he didn't have to deal with snoops in the night, unlike right now.

Akane stood up and braced herself. Someone was nearby… or so it sounded.

**SNAP! CRUNCH! CRASH!**

"WOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHH!"

A silhouette fell from the nearest trees and onto the rooftop, not far from Akane.

Akane stood still in a defensive stance. Had she not been educated in SOME sort of self-defense, she probably would've sprinted away to the nearest police station.

The figure was sprawled out where they landed. They appeared to have some sort of large weapon on their back.

…And they were unconscious for now.

Akane slowly approached the figure, so as not to have the stranger have her right where they wanted her (this was a trick she learned after many years of dodging astral princes and magic whatnot from around the globe). She managed to get next to the perpetrator before they stirred. She gently turned the figure over to see the face.

UKYOU.

Akane jumped back in shock.

When Ukyou woke up, so did she.

"UKYOU? What on earth are you doing here?"

"What- ugh… my head…" Ukyou wobbled a bit. Akane ran to her side and helped her stay up. (Hey, they could be total rivals, but she didn't want to be CRUEL.)

Akane tried again. "Ukyou, what are you doing up here?"

Ukyou again tried to gain her composure. She wobbled a bit more, then she stood up.

"I… even night now… nights where I can't sleep, I come here… I used to relax… at night, I'd count the minutes… the minutes it took for Ranma to get up here…"

Ukyou paused a bit, then she continued. "Ranma would… he would talk to himself, about what happened earlier that day, things that he liked, things that he didn't…" Ukyou paused once again, then continued once again, but this time her voice carried a scratchy, choked vibrato. "He would… he would fight with himself… with words his dad and his mom had said before… and… he'd…"

Akane had never seen Ukyou show a "real" emotion. What she saw now shook her to the core. Ukyou leaned on Akane's shoulder, baring all of her anguish to one of her most hated opponents. She shook with each breath, each one seizing Akane all the more.

Finally Akane gave in as well, originally trying to calm Ukyou but soon joining her. "I… I would… I would hit him… s-so hard, so often… I took him… I took him for granted, that… that he'd just be there the next day, for me to insult and attack… to forget to tell him that…"

Akane suddenly flashed back to the first day, the day that the pig-tailed girl entered her life for the first time.

"Hi, I'm Akane! Want to be friends?"

That's what he was looking for.

He was looking for a friend.

Hiroshi and Daisuke didn't count. They were just two hentais trying to get laid.

Nobody really called Ranma his or her friend. Oh, sure, they called him plenty of things.

"Baka", "Hentai", "Airen", "Boy", "Delinquent", "Sweet-o"… but did anyone call Ranma their friend?

Ukyou did.

That's what Ranma saw in her, Akane thought.

Of course, Ukyou was thinking too.

She considered that Ranma's life consisted of constant pain. You could name the kind, chances were good he had it at some point… Physical, mental, emotional… heck, maybe even sexual (what with Happosai constantly groping his cursed form).

Who was there to ease the pain? Was there anyone?

Ah, there was.

There was Akane.

There was Akane, who saved him from the Orochi. There was Akane, who challenged Kuno so that Ranma could change back to fight him. Akane…

The two suddenly and simultaneously looked up at each other, and saw each other agreeing somehow. These two… these two valued Ranma as a person, they valued him for who he was and not for what he could provide. (The latter was more than obvious.)

That was enough to cause them to fall into a slow, but sure, sleep, cradled by their tears, the shingles of the roof, and the linen of the sky.


	4. Chapter 4

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts 

By zoupzuop2

**Chapter 4**

"Look, I'm sorry, ma'am, but we can't accept your band. We're all booked up."

A tall young man was reluctantly turning ANOTHER great band down. What made THIS specific instance so painful was that their redheaded, pig-tailed agent was pretty darn hot. She dressed as if she knew that, too. Her face was, without makeup, finely shaped and colored; her skirt fell down JUST enough, yet still emphasized her hips and legs. The sweatshirt, however, didn't protect so much, since (even with a shirt) he had a clear view of—

"Don't look down there. Freaking pervert."

…Of her fury.

"Look, isn't there anything you can do for us? …Besides stare down my cleavage?" the petite agent inquired with some annoyance.

"Well, yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I could look somewhere else."

She groaned, bowed formally and walked away. The man took notice.

She turned around. "Stop looking at my butt."

"Right."

* * *

She continued her walk down the sidewalk, her pigtail swishing left-right-left-right with each corresponding step.

When she approached a motor home, she turned towards it, looked left, then right, then knocked three times.

A window rolled down.

"Password."

"Sonic Escapade."

The window rolled up.

The door clicked as she opened it and entered the motor home.

* * *

This motor home seemed far more house-like than one would expect: Actual couches and beds were in their "usual" places, a Gamecube and an NES were hooked up to a plasma-screen TV, musical instruments were strewn about, and people were strewn about the place as well. There was a man in the driver's seat chewing orange gum and running his hair through the Mohawk he had; two twins with unruly hair and a blue shirt each were fighting over which Mario-Kart game they should play ("C'mon, man, the original is a CLASSIC!" "Yeah, but Double Dash is more fun!"); a longer-haired woman was reading a manga on soccer, and an even longer-haired man approached the door where our heroine stood.

"Any luck? Or, did they stare down your cleavage again?"

"Shut up. Get the hot water for me."

The girl reading the manga reluctantly put it down, grabbed a kettle, and gave it to her. Our heroine then turned the kettle over herself, as the hot water hit her head and trickled down to the floor from there, which found its way into a drain ("What on earth is THAT doing there?" "Beats Me.").

"Come ON, Ranma, there HAS to be more gigs in Hokkaido than this."

"I know, Tonikko, but they, too, are all booked." Ranma said, swiftly shedding the sweatshirt and skirt. "It's not like I should have to go about gallivanting in girl-form searching for all the gigs. Why don't we have you do it, Kasage?"

"Because YOU, my aquatranssexual friend, have the best butt in here." Tonikko piped in. The whole motor home laughed.

"What are you meaning, that I should go around flashing people for shows?"

"Big deal, I could do that. However, I'm flat." Kasage said almost monotonously as she picked up her manga again.

"Woo-hoo." Ranma said, walking towards his bunk bed. He climbed up, pulled out his keyboard not too far from his bed, and began to play.

* * *

Swoop. Swish. Swoop. Swish.

A wood stick swung swiftly through the breeze. Kuno was practicing out in his backyard, against anything he saw. There were a lot of mosquitoes and flies around, so he swung at them, knocking at least one out with each swing without fail. TP-TP-TP-TP, the patting of his feet overrode that of the flies. This near quiet didn't last when his sister came to taunt him.

"Brother, you've better things to do with your time than swat flies. Besides, this 'cur' is--!"

Kuno whirled around to face his sister. "**NO!** THE MISERABLE CONJURER IS NOT GONE! Don't you see the spell he STILL holds on fairest Akane Tendou? She still spends her days and nights awaiting his return! I MUST SET HER FREE!" And with that, Kuno continued to swing, this time only with forward thrusts but with the same death toll on flies.

"So… swatting flies out of the air is freeing the trollop?"

"My sister." Kuno stopped, trying not to explode with anger. "I am merely training my accuracy. I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, should be able to strike the fool down with fatal accuracy. As of now I am only at LETHAL accuracy." And with that, he continued his work.

"Wow, that's such a difference, brother."

* * *

The next few days passed by with the spring breeze. An odd, odd silence crept through the whole of Nerima. April, May and part of June passed by in their usual "Summer Break Time-Snap". In fact, the "normal" way of life seemed to be returning to the common folk, as if those strange pigtailed siblings were never there.

Then came the concert.


	5. Chapter 5

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts By zoupzuop2

**Chapter 5 **

"Hey Akane! Did you hear the news?"

Nabiki stood in Akane's doorway with an excited air about her. This was a rare occurrence as of late, since without Ranma around she lacked sources of income.

"No, what's up?" Akane got up from her desk.

"Check this out. It's a concert from this really great band!"

"Oh, really?"

Nabiki produced a poster and a CD from behind her back and handed them to Akane.

The Poster Read:

* * *

**On June 21st, 2005**

**We cordially invite you to an evening of music with…**

**_BAD SHOES_**

**At Nerima Grand Hall At 6:30 PM**

**¥6300 to be entertained all night**

**

* * *

**"Hmm. It doesn't seem like a bad idea. What kind of music do they play?" 

"Uh, everything but rap, classical, and… uh, what's the quote… 'We play everything but whatever sucks'. Everything else, they claim to play."

"Heh. I sorta like the one behind the Kirby shirt. He's kind of cute."

Beneath the concert description was an image of the band members. One had a Mohawk, one grinnedand wore a Kirby T-shirt, two were wearing the exact same thing and almost looked exactly so, there was a girl with longer hair, and ablack-haired youth with a ponytail and… oddly familiar features.

"Heh, yeah, he sorta looks like—…"

"Oh, come on. You KNOW the chances of HIM being_here_ already are a million to one."

"I didn't say it was Ranma. I said he_looks_ like Ranma."

"…" Akane paused for a moment. This concert looked like a great idea. She didn't want to ruin the moment thinking about Ranma again. So, she paused some more, sighed, then smiled. "I'll do it. I have the cash to cover one ticket--!"

"Save it." Nabiki whipped out two tickets from the same place she got the poster (later discovered to be her back pockets)

"What—Nabiki?"

"Look." Nabiki cleared her throat, blushing a little. "I remembered that you've been in the dumps a bit lately, and I… ah… used some of my… er, 'surplus' money," Nabiki shuddered, "to get one for… you…

"What are you doing?"

Akane was leaning forward and putting her hand on Nabiki's forehead.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Hardy Har Har. I'm a human too you know, I actually DO have emotion."

"Heh," Akane giggled. "Okay! Tonight it is!"

* * *

(Okay, so the details on the poster are kind'a iffy. If you'd like specific details, let me know!) 


	6. Chapter 6

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

**Chapter 6**

* * *

It was only 6:00 PM but the Grand Hall was already filled with thousands of fans, male or female, relatively young to the somewhat old. Akane and Nabiki had to maneuver through the mosh to get to… where? Akane was totally lost. She was lost in the crowd and had lost herself. She hated to admit it, but this was her first real concert. Yeah, she'd seen a concerto before, and she'd seen street performers with large crowds, but this... this was different.

It seemed like only a few minutes of a wait, but the half-hour took its toll. People left and came back with refreshments from the store, they conversed with fellow fans and friends, and the like. Finally the attention was averted to the stage and the hall lights were dimmed, leaving only the stage lit.

A foot from stage right stepped gingerly onto the stage.

Mad applause followed.

The foot withdrew. The applause ceased.

It stepped out again. There was more applause. It pulled back again, and once again was met with silence.

Nothing happened.

Then…

The speakers failed to keep the volume of a whisper, it seemed:

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"That's a pretty big crowd out there."

Said crowd burst into applause.

"… Your point is?"

"I dunno. D'ya think they're here for the music?"

The applause once AGAIN came back.

"Aw. Y'know we suck, all the newspapers say so."

"Oh, you mean the ones written by crazy old hags who don't ever leave their cubicle? 'Course. Aw… LET'S GIVE 'EM HELL!"

The band suddenly burst out onto the stage, with the guitars already blaring the intro to their tune.

If the applause were mad before, the psychiatric ward would need 6-man nets to keep this crowd sane. Akane was not disagreeing with the crowd. The music was gangbusters.

The drummer seemed to hit every drum, like, three times in a second. The Twins on their half-bass, half-guitar instruments blasted a monstrous but beautiful noise into the hungry ears beneath them that would never be full. The saxophone player played as if she would no longer have anything to live for after that concert, and that all of her heart was going into the mouthpiece of the sax.

But the SINGER. Oh, the SINGER! The crowd would have all jumped into an abyss if his total awesome-ness (and, to some of the younger girls, cute-ness) commanded.

A ponytailed youth approached his mike, danced maniacally around the stage for a second or eight, then began his song.

Only then did Akane realize just how familiar this voice was. Oh, it was very familiar, indeed…

**"Everywhere I'm looking**

**For a way to get away**

**From all these people who are killing me**

**Oh-woah-woah!**

**I just can't seem to get away from all the**

**Trouble that I never asked for anyway**

**Ai-ai-ai!"**

The crowd sang along with the wild young wonder, but Akane nearly broke down.

It was he.

It was all coming to her now, after so long: the hair in a ponytail, the facial features, the strangely inviting eyes, the rippling build…

It was he.

Ranma.

Akane made her way through the crowd towards him deaf to all but his voice and his presence.

* * *

_Wow. This much of a reaction after only one song…!_ Ranma thought to himself. _Maybe I'd better sing the next-**OH DEAR GOODNESS**._

Ranma had overstepped.Eight hands clamped onto it and pulled him down into the crowd. Ranma thanked God that his microphone was wireless. He looked to his sides and pleased his crowd some more.

**"Now that I'm surrounded**

**And there's no way I'm escapin'**

**All the heck that I've been makin'**

**Oh-woah-woah!**

**I guess I ain't got nothing**

**But the fists they aren't cuffing**

**And the fire they ain't snuffing**

**Ai-ai-ai!"**

He was living the good life. For two seconds, Ranma felt an appreciation he'd never felt from anyone else before, except from…

From…

Ranma turned his head.

Akane.

His head was locked in place. Time, the odd enigma it was, graciously slowed down as the two locked gazes, albeit one was pushing through hands and another had the crowd feeling his.

_Shoot._ Ranma thought. _She can't know me… she won't…_

Time resumed its usual pace, and Ranma felt the hands shove him back towards the stage, away from…

… Away from what?

He fumbled to his feet and shifted back into the situation at hand.

That would be music.

* * *

The song ended, and the audience cheered…

No, the audience ROARED with applause. Only two hands didn't bother to clap. One of them was falling down to her knees, almost falling apart at the seams (provided, of course, that humans had seams).

Just then she felt the hand of the only other individual who wasn't clapping. She turned around.

Once again, it was Ukyou.

"Look…" she seemed to be pulling herself together as well. "All we can do is wait for the concert to end, so we might as well try to enjoy the music. We'll catch up at the end."

Something strange told Akane to agree. She didn't know what… maybe an odd, macabre hunch, maybe instinct.

So she tried to enjoy the music.

* * *

How she enjoyed the music so much was beyond her.

The music was amazing, no song better or worse than the previous. Soft songs, fast ones, spoofs, monologues… Akane was simply amazed at the spectrum of songs.

It was beautiful, too! The notes were woven intricately with each other, and not a single thread of that was broken. Nothing seemed out of place or musically inaccurate. How Ranma knew how to write music was up to Akane. It was also beyond Ukyou, for that matter. They had an Elfman-Liszt fusion on their hands here.

What they didn't know was that the best and last song was yet to come.

Ranma grabbed the microphone that sat beside his keyboard. "Hey, we're almost done here… who wants something a bit… sappy, overemotional and overbearing?"

The crowd screamed its approval.

Ranma tapped a few buttons on his synthesizer, then cracked his knuckles. He laid his fingers on the keys.

Then the room underwent a hush in this most holy of sounds.

A sound like an angelic symphony of strings entailed. Each and every individual note Ranma played caressed each ear in its path, waging blitzkrieg on eardrums set on hard, fast music. Nobody would've complained if that was all that there was to the song, but to add Ranma's voice… God would've hired him for his own music department (things haven't been doing so well after Lucifer left…)

**No more crying**

**Let me dash away your tears**

**No more pain**

**Let me heal your wounds**

The guitar came in, chords blaring. The bass player's fingers flew from string to string, playing note to note as if he were frantically making it up, but so sure of exactly what he was making up.

"It's times like this when you start 

**Killing me but I'm still alive**

**Why can't you listen to me**

**Let me tell you what's inside**

Akane stopped to listen to the lyrics. What was he meaning? Were the words going somewhere?

Ukyou understood fully what the words meant. Hell, she knew what every song meant that he wrote (and some that he didn't write; they did a few Oingo Boingo covers like "No One Lives Forever"). He might as well have put up a giant neon sign to say what he meant.

The song reached its conclusion, and Akane was still clueless, until…

**The Time for me to**

**Give my heart has come**

**But sometimes I fear**

**That my mind will go numb**

**The pain of decision and**

**Terror of choice**

**Has spoken but the pain won't**

**Leave me a voice**

Akane found the song's conceit.

It was his fiancé issue.

It was, one third at least, about her.

She broke down on the floor, as did many people before her (One of the concert-goers was thinking, "Wow! He's moved the whole audience to their knees! The song WAS beautiful!)

As Ranma finished his song, he noticed a radiant blue glow around the right corner of the hall.

* * *

The concert finished with one more song. Bad Shoes had taken Nerima by storm.

* * *

(-Lucifer, a.k.a. Satan, was originally the head of Heaven's Music department, according to some studies, before he was expelled. Huh.) 


	7. Chapter 7

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

**Chapter 7

* * *

**

Ranma snatched his towel and wiped his face with it. He felt as if he'd taken on every fighter in Nerima twice with one arm tied behind his back, which was weighed down with a 50-pound weight.

He was glad this wasn't one of his more _tiring_ concerts.

He stumbled into his trailer, dragging his feet in nice, straight lines across the dusty pavement. Had he not been so sleepy-tired (which was in NO WAY related to the "Fight-tired" or "concert-tired" he was so familiar with), he would've looked up at the stars, which graced him with light that relaxed him alongside the crisp night air. The clouds had made their way through the sky into their rightful places (I.E, away from Nerima) and the nearby streetlight made the sweat on Ranma's brow shiny like liquid chrome.

His trailer was somewhat neater than before. His practice keyboards were leaning between the side of his bed and the bookshelf in which titles like "Songwriting for the Everyday Baka" and "Keyboarding 101" gathered dust. The mirror reflected what little light the nearby streetlight gave off, and some from the green night-light Ranma kept on (in case he wanted a midnight snack…) made itself apparent in it as well. Ranma shoved his way through the "gifts" that were on the floor—requests of marriage, teddy bears, cards that played Bad Shoes tunes if you opened them (someone had a bit too much time on their hands)… the list went on.

He looked around at the mess. Saying nothing, he crouched down where he stood.

Then, with a mighty "WHOOMP", he leapt into the air, flipped twice, rotated twice, and landed on his back onto the bed.

He wouldn't have gotten up had the bed not collapsed beneath him.

Or grunted on impact.

He got up and immediately struck a defensive position. Someone had broken into his trailer, and he wasn't going to give this guy what he wanted, unless they WANTED bruises the size of their own head.

The bed shuffled as it got up, and dislodged itself from a girl wearing a sailor fuku. One of her sleeves read, "I ♥ Bad Shoes", and her socks had little stitched images of… Ranma.

"OHMIGOSHIMSOSORRYBUTIHADTODOITILOVEYOUYOUHAVESUCHAGOODVOICE—!"

"Whoa. Relax. I'm not going to yell at you, unless you've stolen something important."

The intruder—er, intrudess pulled something out of her bra.

"Are the fingernail clippings important?"

"Nope. Do whatever you want with them."

"Okay."

"Now, what are you doing in my trailer? …And, do I know you?" Ranma sat down on the now-upside-down bed alongside the intrudess. Something seemed familiar about this one, but it just wasn't clicking.

Ranma mentally scanned through his library of "People That Hate Me". It was quite a large library.

"I-I'm sorry, but… I'm your biggest fan! I've collected all your merchandise, CD's, and…" she paused a bit… "I started the official Bad Shoes' Lead Singer Fan Club over at a local restaurant nearby."

"Hey, you DO sound familiar…" Ranma noted that her voice was slightly low for a girl's voice, but it wasn't she-male… as far as Ranma knew.

"Really? I'm the one that made the local Okonomiyaki place popular! Well… the owner made it famous, but the Fan Club made it popular!"

A candle suddenly lit above Ranma's head. It would've been a light bulb, but Ranma isn't as bright as he wishes he is, or wished he were.

"Okonomiyaki… you mean Ucchan's?" Ranma asked the sort-of stranger.

"Yeah! I work for her!"

Ranma blinked, paused, and lowered his head ever so slightly.

"…Tsubasa?"

"OH! YOU KNOW ME!" Tsubasa jumped about with glee. "MY IDOL KNOWS ME!"

"Yeah… I do. More than you think."

"Really?" Tsubasa was too excited to consider what that could've meant coming from a stranger. Of course, Tsubasa didn't need to care… in this case.

"Yeah. I-I used to come by Ucchan's pretty often. Actually, I came by VERY often."

"…Really? That's impossible! I would've noticed my biggest idol beforehand. Besides, you COULDN'T have come by more often than our most frequent customer—?"

"This customer, did he seem to like the chef?"

"Oh, yeah. That jerk. He'd constantly hit on her, and she loved every minute of it. GRRR… If he hadn't left when he did, I'd tear his face off! I'd-I'd run him out of town!"

Ranma sighed. He'd best get the painful part over with. He had to be en Route to Hokkaido in about 15 minutes.

"Really?" Ranma's voice lowered a bit. "Surely I wasn't that bad of a guy."

"What? No, I didn't mean YOU, I meant the… other… guy…" Tsubasa's eyes widened as he saw what his idol did next.

He changed his ponytail into a pigtail in 5 seconds flat. The record was—oddly enough—not as surprising to Tsubasa as whom exactly he beheld.

In a few seconds he would also be surprised with exactly what said Idol did.

"Changes how you look at me now, doesn't it?"

"**R-RANMA?**" Tsubasa stuttered with sheer surprise.

It would've been anger, had it not been interrupted with Ranma's falling to his knees on the floor.

"For God's sake, I can't go ANYWHERE without SOMEONE hating me, for the simple reason that I'm THERE. Can I just go someplace and have someone bother to LIKE me, at least a little, at least ONCE?" Ranma yelled, not revealing his face from the floor's gaze.

Tsubasa was in a state of pure shock. Here it was, he'd met his idol, the one he'd heard so many good things about, the one he'd idolized, the one he started a fan club for…

…He idolized someone he hated? …Or, at least thought he did?

"That's EXACTLY why I left this frickin' town. No matter where I went, no matter what I did—assuming I even DID anything—SOMEBODY, sure enough, would be just around the corner waiting to insult me for everything I am and everything I stand for!"

Tsubasa took the next few seconds to think.

"…You stand for food?"

"OR FOR ANYTHING I'VE EATEN! Look…" Ranma sighed. "It's best if you just go."

"…" Tsubasa took what he was saying in. Maybe something WAS sort of out of place with his anger towards Ranma. After all, he and Ukyo WERE childhood friends. He made the assumption that childhood friends were important, considering that he never had any, being the "girly boy" of his previous schools.

"Ranma… look. I'm sorry about… what I said before. I didn't know it meant so much to you."

"No, no, no…" Ranma sat back down. "It's not just YOU. You are one of the least of my problems…"

"Even after that chain mail I made saying you'd date the highest sender?"

"... That was you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay, you're the second-to-last of my worries. Anyway, it's not your dislike of me that's so stupid. It's everyone else's… it's some of the people that I care about that's mixed into that crowd."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Let's see… Pops for starters, Ryouga—?"

"You care about Mr. Hibiki?"

"Good friend of mine. Can I finish?"

"Sorry."

"Pops, Ryouga… heck, even Akane hates me, and if I married one of my former fiancées, BOTH of the others would hate me too!"

Tsubasa waited another moment.

"Wouldn't there be three left?"

"What? OH, no. Kodachi isn't my fiancée, thank GOD."

"Yeah, I was sort of pitying you a couple of times there."

"Anyway, THEY'D all hate me… and those are the people I even remotely CARE about! After THAT lively bunch, there's the whole Kuno family, Soun, and my mom—no, she only knows 'Ranko'…"

"Who's Ranko?"

Ranma produced a water bottle from atop the bookshelf and turned it upon himself, with the usual effects.

Tsubasa's jaw smacked rather loudly against the floor. It caused his mouth much pain.

"See? THIS is why some people hate me, because they meet THIS me instead of the REAL me!"

"That's pretty deep."

"I MEAN CURSE-ACTIVATED ME!"

"Curse?"

"That's another story, another time." Ranma-chan sighed. She then made her way to a small travel stove, put a kettle on it, and turned up the flame. "You see why I left yet?"

"…Is it because everyone jumped to conclusions about your character before they even got to know you, or give you another chance?"

"Huh. You're pretty smart for someone who someone who hides inside mailboxes."

"Hardy Har Har. It's almost funny, but it isn't."

"Aw, I wasn't meaning too much offense." Ranma-chan sighed. "Y'know, I really wouldn't care so much about having everyone hate me…"

"Yeah?"

Ranma's face darkened. "…If I just knew, for sure,if Akane loved me. I would be able to face it all without remorse if I at least knew that I would still have HER to help me through it."

"…"

"She's put up with so much of my crap, I just wish I could apologize for it all… but how would I do that? 'DUH, sorry for treating you like so much garbage, and insulting you, and a whole bunch of other crap, does that make things better?' Ugh. I just wish… I just wish I had another shot."

"…" Tsubasa's eyes filled with tears.

Little did she know, so did Ranma's.

"Now she hates me even more, abandoning her after I told her I loved her at Phoenix Mountain… and… an'..." And with that, Ranma-chan broke down on Tsubasa's lap.

Tsubasa's brain was totally fried. Everything he thought to be true blew a foghorn into his face. Ranma, one of the strongest people in Nerima—nay, the world—just turned into a girl, confessed to loving one of his 3 (or was it four?) fiancées, and broke down into HIS lap. The only real thing he wished didn't happen was the crying. It would mean he'd have to wash that dress again, and he kept this one clean JUST for this concert.

But that didn't matter. Ranma had just bared his soul to him—HIM of all people—and needed HIS shoulder to cry on. So he gave him—her, he meant—just that.

After a few minutes, Ranma-chan stopped crying and got up.

"I think… I think the kettle's ready…" She walked over to the mini-stove, took the kettle, and poured it atop her head.

"Ouch. Maybe it was TOO ready." Ranma, now male, griped.

Tsubasa said nothing.

"Uh… look, I need to get ready to hit Hokkaido. I'd love to talk… maybe next time without the needless emotional breakdown… but now is neither the time nor the place."

"Understood. I'll… I'll keep what you said on the DL as best I can."

"Alright. Nobody has to know about this."

"Right."

Tsubasa began to leave the trailer.

"Oh, and Tsubasa?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll see what I can do with that little fan club of yours."

Tsubasa giggled a little. "Okay, thanks!"

Tsubasa walked out the door. Ranma stood there, thinking about what he just did.

Suddenly his eyes widened.

_OH CRAP! News spreads around Nerima like wildfire! I'm screwed!

* * *

_

Tsubasa walked towards the door he exited to get to the trailer, and put his hand on the handle.

3 seconds later, Akane and Ukyo had him pinned him down at the arms.

"Wh-What the—!" Tsubasa looked frantically at his two captors (with a small dash of jealousy… they weren't even trying and they looked more feminine than he did). "What on Earth are you two doing?"

"Don't play stupid with us. You were in Ranma's trailer for a good 10 minutes. What did you do?" Ukyo growled at her cross-dressing suitor.

"Nothing!" Tsubasa replied.

"Don't lie to me!" Ukyo snarled even more sharply. "NOBODYstays in a trailer for10 MINUTES without having done _something_! **_WHAT DID YOU DO_**!"

"I SAID, NOTHING!" Tsubasa yelled back.

"LISTEN, YOU LITTLE CROSS-DRESSING SISSY BOY! IF YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED IN THERE, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL MAKE YOU A **REAL** GIRL!"

Ukyo blinked. "Uh, Akane? What's that supposed to mean?"

Akane whispered into Ukyo's ear for a moment. Ukyo's eyes widened, then glared evilly towards Tsubasa.

"What's it supposed to mean?" Tsubasa inquired uneasily.

Ukyo smiled darkly at Tsubasa. "I wouldn't want to find out…"

"GAAAAAH! OKAYOKAYOKAY!" Tsubasa panted. "I didn't know it was Ranma, so I hid as the bed…"

"You mean, 'Under the bed'?"

"No, I mean AS the bed. Anyway, I was down there, when I hear him come in. He SLAMS onto the bed, which nearly crushed me to death, freaks out, then talks to me as if he didn't know who I was… he figured it out rather quickly… then he started raving on and on…"

"ABOUT WHAT?" Akane snapped. "KEEP TALKING!" She pulled a rather sharp spatula from Ukyo's pocket and took a threatening glance at his crotch.

"About so many people hating him around here… myself included… then… then he did something amazing!"

"WHAT WAS IT?" Both of the fiancées barked for him to state it.

"He turned into a girl! A GIRL!"

Said fiancées' faces changed from sneers to faces that read more like, "Duh".

"…What, you knew this already?"

"Yeah. I _kinda_ live with him."

"Ah. Anyway, he did that, then he—she, my bad—broke down on my lap, talking about…"

Akane loosened up. "About what?" She tried to think about absolutely ANYTHING Ranma could have any reason to break down over.

Tsubasa squirmed. Telling Akane could mean that she grieves his absence even MORE, or that she pursues him with no avail… the list would go on. But lying to her would be worse. So… he took the middle road.

"Couldn't tell. She kept sobbing nonsensical words into my dress…" Tsubasa scoffed the aside, "Which I'll have to wash again when I get back home…"

"Keep talking."

So he did.

* * *

"RANMA!" 

Said singer perked up from his nook in the motor home, which was about to set sail for the next gig in Hokkaido. That voice sounded familiar… but it wasn't Tsubasa… not some random fan… was it? He just knew that it sounded familiar.

"RANMA!"

Yep. That was another random Akane. Another Akane wanting some sort of signature, another—!

ANOTHER AKANE? (Since when was there more than one?)

Ranma looked through the window to see two girls running down towards the motor home. One of them was Akane; he could venture that guess easily. But who was the other one? Shampoo would've called out "Airen", Kodachi would've called out "Ranma-Sama"… which left only—!

That girl pulled out an enormous spatula.

Yep. It was Ukyo.

This was beautiful. Akane AND Ukyo were after him now. They probably wanted to kill him, or to get him to come back for whatever reason.

Either way, he couldn't let them get involved. Not now, like this…

The trailer jumped forward a bit as it began its venture to Sukagawa.

* * *

Ranma laid down on the bed, relieved that he didn't have to see his fiancés anymore. 

…

Yeah right.

Ranma laid down on the bed, ready to vomit his lungs from sheer depression.

"&#!"

Ranma bit his pillow, tearing clean through it. He missed so many people, so much…

It's too late for that now.

* * *

Akane sped to a sprint as the trailer and minivan drove away into the distance. She couldn't let him go, not like this… she wasn't good enough… can't let him go… stupid baka… not… no…

She slowed to a stop, standing there as the night breeze caressed her hair. The only thing left in view was a few miles of road and some mountains.

Ukyo caught up to her, rested on her spatula, and caught her breath. After a few seconds, she, too, paused.

Neither able to speak, they turned to each other, exchanged glances, and walked their ways home.

* * *

"DUUUUUUUUUUDE! That was one of our best concerts yet!"

Tonikko opened up a bottle of champagne and broke one of the windows with the cork, randomly whooping and hollering as if he had been part of one of the biggest concerts in history. Toru and Turo were setting up the DDR Pads for a victory round, and Kasage was bouncing on the bed singing illegible lyrics. They were all ready for one of the biggest parties they'd ever had. Of course, Ranma was—!

Ranma was sitting in the corner of the room looking out the window, with the lower part of his face buried in the crook of his arm. He silently counted the telephone poles as they passed. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6…

Tonikko stopped chugging one of the many kegs and gave a glance towards Ranma. The others soon followed, leaving only the sound of the motor home and the music from the DDR title screen.

"…Hey, Ranma, you okay?"

Ranma didn't budge.

Tonikko got up, walked over to Ranma, and sighed.

"Hey. You okay, man?"

Ranma didn't move.

"Dude, you—!"

"What-OH!" Ranma jumped out of his reverie, startled by the sudden presence of Tonikko. Tonikko didn't do much different.

After Ranma's pigtail stopped defying gravity from shock, Ranma sighed, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just…"

"Aw, no!" "Don't do this to us, man!" "PLEASE!" The rest of the band immediately protested the situation. Tonikko raised a hand to them, silencing them in their candor.

"Look. I understand what you're going through. But… when life gets hard…"

Tonikko reached for the keg.

"Aw, man, I'm okay, I'm not thirsty—!"

SPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!

Tonikko fired the overly pumped keg straight into Ranma's face.

"…YOU SPRAY IT WITH BEER!"

The otherfour shouted their approval.

"BEER FIGHT!"

Later that night there were complaints about this really loud motor home that was spraying something around their room and being WAY too noisy, something about Beer…


	8. Chapter 8

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

Chapter 8

* * *

Happosai, being the odd traveler he was, felt it necessary to travel abroad for his… training. Or, at least, this is what he claimed it to be when he told his two disciples. Specifically, Happosai was going out to experience the more 'exotic' styles the world had to offer. He bowed to his disciples, admired their loyalty as they mourned, and left. (He found it odd that a few seconds upon his leaving the Dojo he faintly heard party music.) 

But this didn't matter. What mattered was that he was going to get some Fresh, New, EXOTIC…er, FUEL for his… err… hobby. Hence his location in Nagasaki. He had essentially gotten all he wanted from Nerima, so he figured, where better to find opportunity than the Nagasaki Nightlife? The street itself was wide enough for him to blend into the crowd ever so conveniently, yet small enough for him to hop from… source to source. He started to head towards the club district of town, which Happy considered to be the area of cheap opportunities, but was a better starting point than the Women's Armed Forces In Training which he mistook for a stripper joint.

He had "taken" four other clubs before he had arrived in Nagasaki, so he flew towards the next one with a fueled, but bland, energy.

* * *

The club seemed to be emanating an odd pink glow as Happosai made his way past the man who checked reservations. Heck, to Happosai, the club even SMELLED Pink—not like "Girls panties" pink, but more like "bad taste" pink, much like the pink flamingos the Americans had the tendency to put in their lawn, destroying the house's selling value upon contact with the ground. 

The music, however, was excellent. Of this he took note. It would make his work quick and possibly pleasant for the host, depending on their lifestyle.

Said music was just around the corner. He hid by the wall, slunk by bouncers and muscular patrons, and shifted up towards the roof. Bouncing from wall to wall, he made his way to the corner of the room in which the music was being made. With the first step to attaining perversion (Finding the Location of potential hosts), he began the second (Assess Heh… the situation).

He glanced towards the stage.

He glanced towards the crowd.

Then…

…Huh?

He looked back again.

_Well, hello! Is that—!_

It was Ranma-chan, onstage, singing a great song. Not that this was something Happosai cared about; he was focused upon her costume. It was big, and it covered a bit much (of course, Happosai considered buck-naked to be 'JUST revealing enough'… for some of the single members in the crowd, it raised different questions), but he knew what to do in that situation. He analyzed the Costume (A reworking of Step 3: Analyze Target locations of Choice).

_Bare Midriff… check._

_Short skirt… check._

_Small, probably removable top… check._

This was too good to be true. His heart throbbed and his hands twitched, aching for…

His only sorrow was that one of his students was not on his guard.

He bellowed his beautiful, manly, STRONG war cry, sprung towards the stage and extended his arms, ready to reach the ever common but oh-so-desirable and unsuspecting victim.

To a local deaf/hard of hearing individual, it sounded something like this:

"HOTCHA!"

Boing-THUMP.

Okay, maybe "unsuspecting" was not the greatest choice of words.

Ranma-chan had crushed his skull with her microphone stand incorporating it into her act is if the intruder were right on the time scheduled. Happosai glared at the nerve of it all. "Ugh. " Happosai barely squeaked, as he scrambled away. Within a few seconds, he was up to his feet and ready once more to—!

Microphone stand, meet Happosai's skull. Happy's skull, meet microphone stand. I believe you two have met before.

Happosai, flattened once again by the bottom of the microphone stand, grew more and more furious. Was his former pupil testing his patience?

Ranma-chan kept singing as if nothing was happening out of the ordinary, but kept her state of mind about her.

_Kill that ing pervert. Kill that ing pervert. Kill that ing pervert..._

The crowd exploded into applause. Not even the regulars of the club had seen such an amazing display of music AND comedy at the same time… not like this, anyway!

Finally the base of the mike stand began to glow red. Ranchan released the 300-year-old lech from the weight, but to no avail for peace. Happosai fumed. "OH-HO! So you think you're so clever, eh? HAPPOSAI FIRE TRICKS!"

Happosai pulled out a RM-10, lit it, and tossed it towards said "clever" singer.

BAM! Ranma swung her golf club of music and didn't change anything about her ("Beautiful! ", as many critics acclaimed) voice.

BOOM!

The audience burst once more into applause. Now there were FIREWORKS? This was a night for the History books for Poseidon's Trident Nightclub for sure!

Our heroine neared the end of the song, with fireworks going off in every which-way.

Happosai, tired of the messing around he'd been doing, launched a full-frontal attack. He pulled back, coiled, and launched himself at his pupil's… bosom.

That was the last thing he saw for a week. Immediately, he saw black, with an awful lot of stars swirling around in it. It was almost as if some really cute singer had clubbed him upside the head with the microphone stand.

* * *

It's ironic, reader, that the title of the song was "Little Old Lecher".

* * *

(I'm not sure if I should keep this chapter, as it's irrelevant to the story itself. It's the next chapter I wrote, but... if you guys feel I should keep this out, let me know!) 


	9. Chapter 9

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

**_Chapter 9_**

* * *

The next few weeks floated by, as the summer vacation days began their odd symphony of relaxation. Akane stayed on edge, always on the clock for the next big thing from Bad Shoes. Ukyo would stop by from time to time, and would frequently exchange her okonomiyaki for information as to what Bad Shoes was up to. 

The REST of the city of Nerima, however, was alert and cautious. Nothing strange had happened ever since that weird pig-tailed boy and his twin sister left, and they were all anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Finally, something DID happen beyond the ordinary. Of course, the only thing that made it so odd was that it didn't happen MUCH earlier.

* * *

Kasumi, up at the crack of dawn as usual, was taking a rather large bundle of laundry to the machines. She hummed a tune she had heard on the radio a few days ago as she strolled by the front door. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about morning that she loved. Was it the sunbeams that lined up along the hallways and rooms? Was it the warm glow of the early morning sun? Was it the odd air that everything seemed to have? She didn't know. 

In the middle of her pondering, she heard a knock on the door.

_Funny, who would be out at this hour of the day?_ Kasumi wondered to herself, as she made her way to the door. She opened it for this stranger of the dawn with unprejudiced enthusiasm.

"Good Morning, sir! May I help you—oh, gomen, Tatewaki. I didn't recognize you… summer mornings are somewhat hard on my vision."

"Eldest Tendo," Kuno acknowledged and made a faint bow. "Would the fair Akane Tendo be here to accept a date from the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High? Or perhaps Osage no Onna is here, seeking—?"

"No, Akane's still asleep. But I can let her know you came by."

"…Thank you, Kasumi."

For a brief glitch in time, Kuno observed the eldest Tendo with a keener eye than usual. Although neither as astonishingly beauteous as Akane Tendo nor as… _appealing_ as Osage no Onna, she did hold an air of beauty amongst herself, and with it came an unbridled enthusiasm in whatever she did. Had it not been for his vowed pursuits of Akane and the Pig-Tailed Girl, Kasumi… well…

"I trust I will see you soon, Tatewaki. Take care," Kasumi said with warmth (which is hard for most people to do at dawn) and closed the door, returning wholeheartedly to her work.

Walking away, Kuno returned to his thoughts as well. "Perchance, the fair Akane Tendo would enjoy being awakened by my presence… and by her release from… from…"

Kuno began to snarl as his thoughts turned to his most dire of rivals. Every good thing that Kuno had, every value Kuno believed in, every positive thing Kuno regarded as such… Ranma Saotome was somehow involved in corrupting it, destroying it, or taking it away. Had it not been for him, Akane Tendo and the Pig-Tailed girl would no longer be a problem. Now… now he had to fight to protect theirlove! Ranma only served as an impediment! And, to make matters worse, all the training Kuno had done had dented his bokken… his prized Kendo Bokken…

"I MUST FREE HER! AKANE TENDO, YOU SHALL BE RELEASED FROM THE GRIP OF THE FOUL SORCEROR SAOTOME!"

And with his proclamation, he began his ascent towards Akane's window, and Nerima knew that the long-anticipated event was going to come and go again.

* * *

The day before this day, Akane had said that the best part of the summer was sleeping in. It was a privilege and an honor to be able to sleep a bit longer than usual, and it more than made up for the rest she lost in her school year. Thus, she had the fullest intentions to do so this morning. 

Of course, she had failed to realize that the chances of getting a full night's sleep and being Akane Tendo at the same time were about 4088324.164 to 1.

The situation for today leaned a bit more towards the 4088324.164 side.

**THUMP TMP TMMP**

Akane turned a bit in her sleep.

**TAP TAP TAP!**

Akane's eyes opened. "What in the—?"

She groggily rolled out of bed and walked towards the window.

"Ah, fair Akane Tendo! Come to me and I shall free you from the sorcerer's evil talons!" Kuno said, not realizing that the volume was greatly reduced by the window in front of her.

Akane didn't NEED to hear what Kuno said through the window. She changed direction to her drawer.

"Oh, although I am touched by the souvenir I do not desire anything that one would desire for oneself—!"

It was no souvenir.

Akane tossed the entire drawer (Empty, of course… she didn't want Happosai coming back any time soon) at the window, breaking the window AND Kuno in the process. Both fell to the ground beneath with a clatter and smashing of wood and body to the pavement.

Kuno stood up from the rubble and leapt back up to the now-broken window. "Oh, fair Akane, all I ask of you is to become freed! I am simply here to save you—!"

Akane swung her mallet in typical "Get the Heck Away From Me" style. The hammer lodged itself rather neatly into Kuno's head. "WHAT… ARE YOU DOING… AT MY HOUSE… AT MY WINDOW… **AT 5 IN THE MORNING?**" Akane screamed towards Kuno.

Recovering from the sheer power of the drawer attack, mallet AND the volume of Akane's screaming, Kuno replied, "Akane Tendo, I already have stated my reasons, but if you find my voice so soothing as to repeat—!"

"**SOOTHING**?" Somehow, Akane managed to produce ANOTHER mallet and proceeded to lodge THAT into Kuno's head. " I hate everything about you! You're stupid, you're pedantic… and you've made things HELL for me… AND RANMA!"

"Even if the cur did not deserve it, would it not be foolish for me not to—?"

Akane's eyes went fiery.

"What… the HELL… did you just say?"

For one of the few times in his life, Kuno got the hint.

"Er, ah, my apologies for any possible offense—!"

"**_APOLOGIES?_**" Now a THIRD mallet joined the fray. Akane began now to only speak from her heart's eyes, not from the mind."You've nearlyKILLEDhim, you have NO inkling what the hell he's been through, you have NO clue about his curse…"

"Curse?"

"Cold Water, Hot Water—ACK!" Akane caught herself, but it was too late.

Ranma's secret was now out of the bag, and Akane could only hope he didn't put the pieces together anytime soon. Her heart's eyes cursed their being open at the time.

Akane's rage gave way to water in her eyes. She turned away from the window. "Just… go away."

Kuno tried to think, think of something to say to consul her. Maybe… just maybe… unlikely, but possibly… had he been causing her grief?

Kuno entered the room and put his hand on her shoulder in an air of at least semi-sincere reconciliation. "Akane Tendo, I—!"

And thus began THE biggest, most painful beating in Kuno's life.

_**F---- OFF!**_

Nothing thrown, swung, tossed or fired missed their mark on some part of Kuno's body. Books, binders, CD's, computers, furniture, speakers, karaoke machines… everything in Akane's room conglomerated (at incredible speed, Kuno would recall later on) on one spot in the room, which was where Kuno stood. Soon he was nearly buried in the contents of Akane's room.

"AKANE TENDO, WHY DO YOU DO THIS?" Kuno yelled, before he nearly fell unconscious.

Just before he did so, Akane walked over to him, grabbed his collar, lifted him above the rubble, and balled her other fist.

"IF Ranma goes to hell, as you so often say, he'll see you there, and the angels will MOURN for you."

Lights out.


	10. Chapter 9½

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

Chapter 9.5

* * *

Kuno was meditating. 

This was especially and exceptionally rare. Kuno rarely did such a "lazy and foolish" thing, but being in a hospital, all taped up and suspended, he had very few options that allowed for otherwise.

He tried to consider what made Akane Tendo cast all her rage at him. Usually she would merely tease him lovingly with a (powerful, he thought later to himself) punch, but… THAT… the fiasco in her room…

His attention shifted to some of the last words she said, specifically, "…and you don't have a CLUE about his curse… cold water, hot water…"

What did this mean? It didn't come to him easily, so he tried harder.

Suddenly he began to recall the words of Nabiki Tendo, on the day he met the Pigtailed Girl for the first time…

"The Pigtailed girl's body and soul… both belong to Ranma…"

Pondering what this meant, another quotation came up, this time from the Pigtailed Girl herself, not much later after Nabiki had said her peace…

"I… AM… A MAN!"

This time he tried to discern what that meant, but his subconscious began to pull out more and more quotes from the past, all related…

"That ing crossdresser!" "…aquatranssexual…" "Why has my boy defied me? (Sometimes, not even that…)" "But he looks so much BETTER as a girl…"

More and more and more, the thoughts and old memories poured to his head, all pounding away at this impenetrable concept that he had yet to understand. Until…

"…oh, kami-sama."

From fifteen miles away, the scream echoed…

"**_THEY'RE THE SAME PERSON!_**"


	11. Chapter 10

Ranma ½:

Notes of Sorts By zoupzuop2

_**Chapter 10/**__**

* * *

**_

The summer faded away, cooling down for the colors of fall. The brown of leaves, the green of plants taking their last living breaths… the grey of the doom-bearing clouds that overcast Furinkan High.

With a swift flurry of strikes, Akane blasted through the New Horde 'o Hentai with record speed towards her voice class. Ever since Ranma had left, the boys of Nerima had the idea that she was suddenly "fair game" again, and took up their olds posts once more. Unfortunately for them, over the last few days, Akane had also taken it upon herself to train harder than she ever had before, making her passage through their blows almost as easy as when Ranma used to help her out.

Akane grinned. There was no way she could be late at this rate, unless…

Kuno stood in front of the doors, arms gripping his bokken and face pointed towards the ground.

Akane rolled her eyes. "Oh, come ON, Kuno, let me through!"

Kuno simply smirked, and closed his eyes. "Alas, I cannot allow it. Even had it been for your idiot transsexual friend, I would not move."

"What are you—**oh**. **_My_**. **_Gosh_**."

Kuno had figured it out.

Akane stopped sprinting as her face went pale. Even some of the Horde stopped and gawked at this newfound development.

"You thought I'd never figure it out, did you?" Kuno jested, cruelly. "Fortunately, your providence and assertive help allowed me to figure it out. My heart will ache for the days of blissful ignorance, but I must act now to not lose you in the same way."

"Lose me? You never HAD me!" Akane lunged for the door, but a wooden stick flung her the opposite way, with notable force.

Akane was stunned. Did Kuno actually… HIT her?

Kuno kept his tone. "My apologies, fair Akane Tendo, but I simply cannot allow you to continue life as usual, for I cannot continue life without you."

"Let me by!"

"Promise me your love, Akane, and I shall."

"I'd rather die."

Kuno's face shifted to one of reluctant and dismayed anger.

"Fairest Tendo, I fear that your answer causes me to call upon measures I don't wish to call upon. However, if no other means will dissuade you…"

Kuno pushed a button on his bokken, and a sharp metal tip emerged at the top.

Akane was vocally speechless, but her face told unimaginable tales of shock.

"I intend not to harm you any more than what any other challenge would entail. As such, I formally challenge you, with marriage as my wager."

The fight began.

* * *

Ukyo sprinted above the rooftops, sparing not a moment to look back at the house she should've dropped her delivery off to. Something was wrong.

* * *

Kuno made the motion for Akane to strike first. Akane, however, was too stunned from the current events to do so. After a few seconds of waiting, when it was obvious that she wouldn't come, Kuno took the initiative and charged at his target. Akane dodged to the side, but was struck a hard blow to the stomach. As Akane slammed against the ground and gasped for air, Kuno stood still and solemn. "My apologies once more, but if your affections cannot be won by love, it is my intent to try to do so by force." With that, he stood in defensive stance.

Kuno was crazy.

That was the only explanation that Akane could muster for the situation. Trying to keep her head about her, she struck with a flurry of punches, fast even for Akane, and even a bit surprising to Kuno, who had seen Ranma perform the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. Of course, not a single hit flayed Tatewaki's face, or any part of his body for that matter. Finally, Akane swung her leg up and kicked his chin, sending Kuno flying up and backwards, slamming into the wall.

"What's gotten _into_ you, Kuno? I just want to get to class!" Akane yelled, albeit she was unaware of it. She was also unaware of the large crowd that formed a large circle around their fight, forming in the windows and around trees.

* * *

Hinako Ninomiya sprinted down the hall to an uncrowded window overlooking the scene. She produced a 5-yen coin, stuck it out the window…

…and let them be.

She was aware of the Kuno boy's delinquency, although she never reported this to Principal Kuno, out of fear of unemployment. So when she saw the events play out beneath her, she realized that she simply had to let things pass.

After all, it appeared that her interference would only impede the incoming savior.

* * *

True enough, Ukyo's hunch had been accurate. She saw Kuno strike Akane down, wait for her to stand up once more, and then strike her down once more.

That was enough to send Ukyo flying towards Furinkan High.

* * *

The battle raged on, surprisingly so with the rate with which Kuno struck Akane down. Akane did the same from time to time, but it was uncommon for Kuno to be doing _this_ well, lasting _this_ long with _this_ few permanent injuries.

Finally Akane and Kuno ceased to fight. Kuno kept the same grin as before, fresh and nearly unfazed. Akane, however, was badly beaten. A light, wirey trickle of blood fell from her mouth to the ground and on her shoes, depending on how she wobbled to stay on her feet. She could barely see the opponent ahead of her, but she would only accept defeat by death.

"Please, Akane, cease the madness and surrender. I fear for your health."

"Then kill me. If you plan on dating me, I'll do it in Hell."

"I cannot allow you to—!"

Kuno was suddenly smashed into the a tree, and a large spatula swung close to his throat, nearly shaving his Adam's Apple. As he fell down from the large indent he left, another spatula lodged itself in the bark of the tree where his head once was.

Kuno looked up to see an intensely angered Ukyo, weilding an enormous spatula, and snarling through her teeth. The fire in her eyes could've set steel ablaze, and if the adage were true of "if looks could kill", Kuno would be vaporized,naught more than a memory at this point.

After panting of sheer rage, Ukyo bellowed, "YOU **_SLIME_**!" and lunged at Kuno with unrelenting force. Kuno could only do all that he could to avoid the swift, dire swings of the angered girl's spatula, constantly changing in direction and in arc. This didn't last long, and finally Kuno misjudged a swing of the spatula, meeting the flat end of it face-on. As he flew back, Ukyo leapt up into the air, preparing some smaller spatulae. These were suddenly flung at a high speed in Kuno's specific direction, though none reached their marks as he rolled away.

Kuno was speechless. Who was this rogue woman, and what had he done to trigger her unbridled rage?

As he dodged and ran once more, he brought this question up. "Fair chef, for what reason do you strike at me with such enthusiasm?"

_Swish-BAMPH!_

Ukyo's spatula met Kuno square in the chest, knocking much of his wind from his lungs. As he writhed of the pain and lack of air, Ukyo finally spoke once more.

"Is it really so difficult to understand, you scum? She doesn't love you. She wants nothing to do with you. She wants nothing to do with these failures surrounding us." (This was met with some protest from the crowd.) "All she wants is to live life as she should, and you make every day of that miserable for her. Is it really so hard to just let her attend class?" Ukyo knelt down and met Kuno face to face.

"If you harm as much as another hair on Akane's head… I'm not going to beat around the bush. **I. Will. KILL. You.** Any questions?"

Kuno was too busy continuing to writhe on the floor.

Akane was too busy being in shock at what had just happened.

Finally, Ukyo got up, dusted herself off, and turned to the crowd, saying nothing. Her eyes did all the talking for you, and they certainly weren't saying anything kind. Within a few seconds, the entire Horde 'O Hentai ran for their classes, and disbanded for the rest of their high school career.

* * *

With a flick of the wrist, Ukyo managed to have Akane's shrimp Okonomiyaki flip a good 5 times before it landed just how she wanted it. The desired effect of the flip was unsuccessful, as Akane remained dismal, head down in the crook of her arm. "Look," Ukyo sighed. "You did the right thing, standing up to that jack. He's clearly crazy, and the only thing you could've done better is done it sooner…"

Akane sniffed.

"…and, hey, think about it. That prick's not gonna bother you any time soon, now is he? Now you can lead a normal life for once!"

Akane twitched in her place, but said nothing. Ukyo sighed, and continued flipping Akane's okonomiyaki…

"…I don't want a normal life any more."

"DEH-?" Ukyo nearly tripped over at the sound of what she just heard. After recovering, she puzzled, "What are you talking about?"

"…I thought I wanted a normal life, at least, when I took Ranma for granted," Akane mourned through her elbow. "Then… when he left, it all kinda went away… and… I can't DO normal again."

Ukyo didn't know what to say, so she didn't. She figured that it was all Akane needed right now.

"…and, thinking about that… is what makes me sad the most."

"What, that you can't do normal any more?"

"No, I don't _want_ to do normal any more. It's just…"

Akane's speech broke somewhat, choking her words through sobs. "…it makes me… miss Ranma so… so much…"

As Akane sobbed, the rain patted softly outside.

* * *

The weather was not too different for Osaka.

* * *

Ranma tromped down the stone steps to the dressing room for a half-hour break, well-earned and required by management. As he pushed the door open to his small corner of the backstage rooms, Tonikko approached him from behind.

"'Ey, Ranma! That HAD to be our best rendition of 'Fistcuffs' ever! Drink up so you can pull the next… set…"

Ranma didn't react to Toni at all. He was busy staring at the mirror, emotionlessly regarding the face that stared him down on the other end. The air that Ranma produced could've killed any party that surrounded him, no matter how "raging" it was. Something… wasn't right.

"…Ranma? Y'there?"

Ranma decided to regard Tonikko this time. "Yeah. I'm here."

Toni noted Ranma's melancholy disposition and tried to cheer him up.

"Whoa, what's with the emo attitude? You get off'd by someone in the crowd? AH. It must'a been that one flashing lady. Look, that's bound 'ta happen, and even then—?"

"That's not it." Ranma brushed him off, continuing to stare his reflection down.

Toni's face darkened. This was going too far.

"Look, man. You've been getting more an' more emo with each passing concert. What's dragging you down, man?"

"Nothing. I'm fine. Go get ready for the second half."

Toni would have none of that. "Hey. I'm not going down that easily. There's a problem when a bandmate is sinking with each passing gig. I'm not gonna bug off 'till I know how to help you with whatever's—!"

"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!" Ranma shot up and glared at his bandmate, his eyes suddenly going sharp, and ready to pierce those of his comrade. His aura flared partially red, partially navy blue, and grew bright enough for Toni to see it with slight clarity.

Tonikko was speechless.

Ranma's face stayed ticked for a while, then slowly faded to anguished defeat. "I… I'm sorry, man. I've just got to forget some things from back home." He turned once more to his mirror, this time grabbing his water bottle. "G'won ahead and get ready. I'll be ready to pull off the second set by the time it's about to start."

Toni was still speechless. He knew that Ranma was getting a bit more emo with each passing gig, as he'd said, but it wasn't like him to act out like this, especially to one of his crew.

"…A-alright. See you then."

Toni walked out apprehensively. Whatever Ranma was thinking about, must've been pretty painful or miserable. Maybe he was thinking about that cat pit he occasionally had nightmares about.

Ranma couldn't jettison a single memory from his mind. Over this, he mourned.

Every single memory of his hardships with Kuno and Kodachi, Ryoga's insults, Genma's foolish pranks (none of what he recalled involved fish), Nodoka's claims… all of what he left behind in Nerima, or believed he did, anyway, seemed to sneak up from behind and strike him down. Even insults he easily brushed off made cameo appearances to attack his self-esteem.

Every single memory of Akane, from the table-smashings, to the malletings, to the arguments, to the apologies, to the battles with other fiancés, to her smile… it all seemed to come back to him, and it always seemed to happen whenever he was playing a gig. These thoughts had never been more prominent since the day he left Nerima the first time as a Bad Shoe.

Emotion suddenly found itself debating with Logic.

Logic began to shoo off the memories. _Hmph! Mere memories! You're past all that now! You're FREE from all that garbage! So stop being Depressio Dumpington and enjoy this while you still have it, or you'll lose THIS too!_

Emotion tried to fight back. That's easy for YOU to say, Logic, but you forget that we don't function in sync as easily as you'd like. These memories are irreversible, unless we receive massive head trauma.

_Ugh. There's not a single memory in here worth keeping. Find me a single one you should keep._

Ah… uh… Emotion began leaping through the memories, trying to find a one worth keeping. Logic smiled, and this smile grew bigger as Emotion frantically searched the memories.

_I thought so._ Logic began to smirk.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Emotion threw up his hands. I can't find one.

_That's right. So shut up and—huh?_

I found these. Emotion brought forth the memories that displayed Ranma and Akane's hugs, feigned kisses, accidental… err, discoveries, and Akane's smiles.

_I… you… those…_Logic was speechless for a minute or two.

The two were interrupted when the loudspeakers blared from outside.

Turo stopped by Ranma's door and said, "10 minutes to showtime."

Ranma drank up, slapped some bandaids on his cuts, and made his way up the stone steps.


	12. Chapter 11

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

_**Chapter 11/**_

Akane's face was downcast as she sat on the edge of her bed. She reflected on everything she'd witnessed… like Ranma leaving, Ranma on stage, Ranma leaving town in a trailer, Ranma, Ranma… Was that all she could think about? That… that miserable baka who up 'n left for his own petty shortcomings? The baka who left her—AND the other girls—for some random, upstart band? The baka… baka…

Akane stopped her train of thought. How many times did she just jump to conclusions? 1, 2, 3, 4… she lost count…

**SMACK **"Akane no Baka!"

Said baka smacked her hand to her face as she insulted herself. This was what drove him away in the first place!

"Argh…" Akane got up from her bed and left her room, unconsciously making her way down the hall towards the Saotomes' room. She really couldn't tell why… maybe she was just ready to reminisce for a while.

The door opened with a light _creeeeeeeeak_. Akane pushed past the thin wood of the door to see if Genma was asleep or otherwise in the room, remembered that he had left with Soun for the hot pools, and proceeded inwards.

While Genma's side was managed and somewhat clean, with his sleeping bag straightened out and his clothes were neatly placed next to his knapsack, Ranma's side to keep two airs to it: One, the usual, messy air that he kept even when he was still around, with his sleeping bag and clothes as unkempt as usual; the other, an oddly clean air, that in its state of being unkempt, it was preserved, as if an exhibit for a museum for someone important. The sleeping bag stank somewhat, almost as if someone had slapped it with a fish quite some time ago.

Akane approached the sleeping bag with a small degree of reverence, sighing as she sat down on the bag—?

_Sleeping bags aren't this hard_, Akane thought as her fingers twitched. _Either that, or Ranma's in for a few years' pain of arthritis._

Akane got off the bag and pushed her hand where she sat previously. It was hard. To check, she moved her hand a short distance away from it. It was soft.

Was there something in the bag?

Akane shot her hand through the bag. She wished she hadn't shot it in so hard, as her hand smacked into some sort of hardback book. Stifling an "ouch" to herself, she dislodged the book from its hiding place.

The book was getting somewhat dusty, but it was apparent to some extent that it was not used all too often when it was left in the sleeping bag. The letters of "Journal" reflected the light in the hall, and the black leather was still smooth. Akane didn't know what to make of its appearance; while "Little Black Book" described it physically, it wouldn't reflect something Ranma would usually do.

Then again, Ranma didn't usually leave home to join a band at a random time, either.

Pondering for a moment, Akane gave a glance to the left, then gave the right its dues of a glance as well. Then…

With a curiosity shaded by anxiety, Akane flipped the book open to the first page.

* * *

"Dear Journal,

Today is the first day in which I pour my laments into your ever-listening ears. Unfortunately, I can't trust another person—or thing, for that matter—with the secrets I relay to you in grammar I may never be known to use, for more reasons than there are people to misinterpret them, contort them against me, and find _some_ way to cause me even _more_ grief for it.

Where do I even begin? Maybe I should just give a sum-up.

I turn into a—" the next word was scribbled over in some sort of a self-censor—"girl when I'm splashed with cold water, which is only reversible when I get hit with hot water; somehow or another everyone I know wants to either kill me, torture me, marry me, or—" another censor— "me until I can't see and leave me to rot with the offspring.

I can say, with some authority, that life is crap.

I'm pretty sure that at least some starving kids in third-world countries have found happiness. I really don't want to compare myself to them, but whatever it is they have goin' that I don't, I'd gladly trade them with whatever I have that interests them.

I'm tired of waking up dreading to be _alive_. Somehow—y'know what? Allow me to present my daily schedule:

Wake up, train with Pop, get insulted for not being "man enough", eat food" (the word was crossed out, although Akane could read it) "toxic waste, insult Akane, get hit (for a legitimate reason, but the point still stands).

Walk to school. Continue fiancé drama; maybe fight some Prince Ringflingtingting the One Hundred and Eighty Seventh for the hand of any one of the four in marriage; get insulted by either Kuno, Ryoga, Mousse, or just about anybody, based on my existence on Earth.

Return from School. _More_ fiancé drama, more insults, more pain, more guilt… all somehow my fault (whether I recognize it as that or not).

The only good I could do for the people around me is just nix myself where I stand. Honestly, I'd be taking stress away from a lot of people's lives. The fiancé problem would be solved, Kuno would finally be off my back, Mom would get her ritual seppuku, and…

…Ack. None of this would hurt so much if it weren't for the _one_ person who could _possibly_ love me, despite the many apparent reasons not to. If only it weren't for the girl so beautiful I can't live a day without imagining her beautiful face… the girl whose emotions I so frequently shred… God knows why she bothers with me any more. She'd be so much happier without my garbage, my filth. Just with the thought of how happy she could be… her beautiful smile… ("Cute"? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.)

God, I give her so much pain. I can't give her any more grief… I live in her house, eat her food, insult her, cheat on her (or so she thinks… as if I could so easily avoid flying chinese bimbos, crazy gymnasts, or overzealous friends… I would NEVER cheat on her, or any one of my fiancés, for the record)… if I didn't know for a fact that she loved me the _slightest_ bit, I have no idea how long ago I'd have knocked myself off…"

Akane closed the book and broke down, sobbing through layers of tears.

_BitchbitchbitchbitchbitchBITCH! _Akane cursed at herself, half-heartedly slapping herself to the sick rhythm with which she thought the words to herself. Could she have truly been such a total bitch, to assume that eh was some impervious wall of Jerk; an emotionless, heartless sex statue she'd had the "misfortune" of knowing? Now that he was gone, NOW she found out about the truth, NOW she realized her mistake… she cursed her luck, cursed her foolishness, and cursed herself. A little piece of herself wanted to cast herself into some sort of cave, never to be heard of again, to avoid making this worse.

After calming herself down somewhat, she turned the page with some apprehension.


	13. Chapter 12

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

Chapter 12

* * *

Kasage calmly progressed through the line at Naomi's Seafood Joint. Sooner or later, she thought, she'd finally have some quality American-style Fish and Chips, with some Ramune. Of course, she had to order for everyone in the band, but she didn't mind. The atmosphere wasn't _pleasant_, like a fancy restaurant, but it was nice, for a semi-fast food joint in the middle of nowhere.

Ranma had excused himself to the restroom, while the rest of the band members stayed in the RV, which was cool enough. He usually didn't take too long, so it didn't bother her. Then again, he usually didn't have to use the restroom much, and this was his second trip in the day. Ah well, he was most likely just having his metabolism catch up with him.

Finally, at long last, she reached the cashier. _Commence fake enthusiasm_, she thought to herself.

"Welcome to Naomi's, home of the best fish burgers in Japan. May I take your order?"  
"Well rehearsed."  
"Hmph."  
"I'd like five fish burgers, two orders of fish and chips, and seven bottles of ramune."  
"Would you like to whale-size it?"  
"Would I like to what?"  
"…whale-size. It's like the Americans' "Super Size", but far less gut-rotting."  
"No thank you."

In summary, she paid for the food, ordered it to go, and sat down to reflect. It had been months of touring to promote their only album, and a smash-hit at that. The only thing that seemed to change about these concert days was that Ranma seemed to get darker somehow, not necessarily in appearance, but in… she couldn't say. He just seemed… darker somehow, more depressed, especially within the last few days. He did, however, have the right idea of going to the bathroom. She decided, after some thought, to do the same. After all, the restroom on the trailer… she didn't even want to be within a meter of that hellhole (she would've accepted five, but in an RV, that distance is almost inevitable).  
She opened the door and headed towards one of the stalls.

_...Sniff_

'Sniff'?

Kasage stopped. There was an odd air of gloom in the stall next to hers. In fact, this air was even _glowing_ black from said stall.

Nevertheless, she had to go. She gathered herself, cleared her throat, and knocked on the poorly painted-over door. "Hey, uh, are you okay in there?"

_Sob_

This woman was obviously breaking down, or had made her way through such a stage. Kasage sighed, figuring that it was some issue like a breakup with a boyfriend, or a catfight with a friend, either former or current… whatever the case, she had to go. Running through her options, Kasage chose to use her time-tested, proven methods of extracting distraught women. Simply sympathize, coax, and remove the woman from the stall. The trick was the sympathy, so she started with that. "Eh, are you okay in there? Would you… like to talk with another girl about it?" The woman sobbed for a few more seconds, which Kasage didn't mind. Any trouble another woman had could be easily reasoned with; or, at least, sufficiently so to remove a crying woman from such stalls as these. Not much could surprise this one here, no ma'am.

Finally the woman spoke. "No… it's best that I stay in here…"

That was Ranma-chan's voice! She was the one in the stall!

Kasage blasted through the door with the whole of her body's energy.

"Ranma, is that—GAAAAH!"

There, cramped over the latrine, was a nearly naked, terribly cut-up, bleeding-from-several-places Ranma-chan, holding a small dagger up to her neck, sobs seizing her body beyond voluntary motion. By the floor of the latrine lay a large, handwritten note, meant to grab the attention of anyone who happened to come across the scene she so clearly intended to leave for them.

"GAW! Ranma!" Kasage nearly fell apart. What the hell was Ranma up to? Was she really about to—do that? She couldn't take any risks. With strength she never knew she had, she rushed to Ranma's side and scooped her bleeding bandmate up. "Please, no, God, no…" Kasage sprinted out of the restaurant into the parking lot, so as not to leave much blood, or get too much publicity for the whole stint; as well as, clearly, get Ranma some immediate medical attention.

What was Ranma thinking? What could've possessed her to do this? Here was Ranma—the strongest guy she'd ever known, even when "guy" didn't apply—bleeding, sobbing, and ready and willing to die a coward's death in a bathroom stall in the middle of nowhere. The only thing clear about the situation was that Ranma needed medical help right away. She sprinted across the warm concrete towards the RV.

* * *

_TMP-TMP-TMP_

"Password?"

"EMERGENCY."

Toru swung the door open and Turo cleared the doorway. Kasage almost _flew_ into the motor-home with a vigor unmatched by most carbon-based things.

"Good God, what happened—?"  
"I don't know! Just grab the First Aid kit and find Tonikko! NOW!"

Turo, being closest to the door, sprinted out to find Toni.

* * *

"TONI!" 

Turo called to Tonikko, who was finishing a phone call.

"…sure, our last concert there was great. I'll let the rest know. Okay, bye."

He hung up the phone and turned around to find a panting Turo, with a surprising amount of beads; beads of sweat on his brow and beads of uncertainty in his face.

"Whoa, calm down, Turo, what is it—?"  
"Ranma's injured. Badly."  
"WHAT?"  
"Kasage found him—eh, her in the bathroom, all cut up."  
"What are you talking ab—OH F---!"

Suddenly it was all but clear that Tonikko knew, moreso than any of the rest of Bad Shoes, what was going on.

Ranma-chan was on the main bed, sheets draped over minorly treated cuts, face drenched in tears and eyes red from the same. Kasage was trying to calm her down, but that proved difficult when she herself was rather close to breaking down and crying herself, save for her own strength. Toru was cutting patches of gauze and preparing disinfectants, thanking the powers-that-be that he took some courses in chemistry and medical science before joining Bad Shoes, when Turo and Toni burst through the door.

"IS SHE OKAY?"

He shot a glance towards the main bed—and the shot bounced back and made him look the other way. As surprising as it may have been to some, Toni was actually NOT accustomed to seeing that much female flesh before his eyes.

"Toni?"  
"Cover… her… a bit… better."  
"Oh." Kasage grabbed a blanket from a bin nearby and covered their lead singer's current bust.  
"Better. Now, what the heck happened?"  
"I was about to go to the bathroom when I heard sobbing. I opened the door and there she was, cut up, nearly naked and sobbing, with a knife at her neck… dear God…" Kasage began to lose herself to her pending emotion, "what could'a possessed her—him to do that? Or did someone else cut him?"

Tonikko paused. He knew this situation would come to _someone_, but it certainly didn't seem like Ranma's deal. Or… was it? He seemed somewhat prone to this around the first day he joined them, but it just didn't seem to strike him as… but… he couldn't explain.

The first day they met suddenly flashed before his eyes…

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yeah, a bit overemotional, but... this is how I wrote it way back when, so I'mma stick to it. And! I wrote the chapter AFTER the next, it won't be too long to get that one typed up before BOTH are unloaded:3 

-zoupzuop2 out.


	14. Chapter 13

Ranma ½: Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

Chapter 13

_CAUTION: Implied foul language._

* * *

Earlier that year…

"Who's that moron?"

"Check out the freak with the pigtail!"

"Beauty Pageant's that way, pretty man!"

Ranma walked through the jeers as he neared the dueling stage. The multicolored lights nearly blinded him as he approached the Blue keyboard, a Kawai KII connected alongside a red version of the same keyboard, plugged into a MIDI Patch bay with a Korg 05R/W and a small PA system. Around what once was a boxing ring, fans and foes of the contestants gathered to leer and cheer for the last keyboarder standing. Even after three weeks of sneaking out about twice a week to observe these events, the late-night scheduling of these events made Ranma wonder how anyone had the energy to play the sorts of keyboard riffs he'd seen.

"AAAaaaaand it appears we've arried at the final-finals match, a random challenger taking on the 3-week champion, Tsukasa Choreni!" The announcer's voice blared through the smokey little boxing-ring-turned-nightclub, raising more cheers for Tsukasa.

"In the red corner, our champion… an accomplished musician, able to play with one hand in a way many strive to play with two… which gives him one hand free for one-finger salutes! Please welcome… TSUKASAAAAAAAA CHORENIIIIIIIiiiiii!" The audience roared its approval.

"And in the blue corner, our challenger, our, uh, man with the, er, crazy plan… uh… RANMAAAAAAA SAOTOMEEEEEEEE!" More boos and jeers came from the crowd.

One of the judges took note of the challengers' eyes… they seemed to be lacking pupils, and the irises were not much bigger. It was almost as if this meant more to him than it did with some of the other contestants…but why? This was a band audition process, not a fight to the death (those happened OFF-stage). Well… if it mattered enough for his pupils to disappear…

On the stage, Tsukasa cracked his knuckles and smirked.

"Let's see how you handle this, spaz," he leered, and began playing a pattern for Ranma to respond to.

Without a flinch or even so much as a blink of an eye, Ranma played his response back using the same sound-patch.

Tsukasa raised an eyebrow, then laughed. "Alright, you little twerp. I'm just warming up!" he spat, playing a stranger, wilder pattern than before on a square-wave lead. Pausing only for a second, Ranma played the _exact_ pattern right back in return. The audience's usual insults were hushed somewhat, pausing to consider just how this newcomer was actually giving the champion a sudden run for his money (provided he had any).

"What the—? Okay, spin this around at me, huh?" Tuskasa played a darker, more minor pattern on what sounded like the darkest of church organs that ever existed. He began with two hands, then switched it to his right hand, using his left to extend his middle finger upwards towards Ranma. This effort went applauded.

"What's this?" The announcer bellowed. "It looks like our challenger has kept with Tsukasa for two rounds… one more than the previous record!" The crowd ooh'd and ahh'd its assent. "Only one round left before the verdict!"

Ranma took his right hand, flexed it a bit, and used that hand alone to play the first bit of Tsukasa's pattern, adjusting the patch casually with the other hand. Then, approaching the next set of the pattern, his left hand twitched ever so slightly. With one sudden motion, he switched his hands, not losing a single iota of his performance. The audience applauded softly. At the end of the second of the three sets of the pattern, Ranma extended his index fingers and individually played each note of the third set, alternating between hands each time.

As he finished the pattern, the audience went wild.

Tsukasa went wild as well, albeit not as happily as the audience may have. He frothed at the mouth a bit, mouthing silent curses at his opponent as the judges furiously scribbled their notes.

"FINE!" he finally yelled. "No man in this half of Japan can top THIS!"

And with that, his hands blurred across the keyboard, playing a metal ditty with devastating accuracy. His malevolent smile softly shifted to a sick baring of sharpened teeth. The sheer darkness of his pattern twisted and turned with agony and torture, with each note dripping with an evil audio glow. After three minutes of pure, dark speed, Tsukasa stopped as the audience roared its applause.

Tsukasa walked towards Ranma until his face nearly touched his opponent's.

"Give up, you filthy waste of time. You ain't man enough to take me out of here." A ball of spit followed, forming with a loud hock and landing on Ranma's forehead. He then turned around and absorbed all the glory he was being bathed in…

…unfortunately, this would be all the glory he'd be getting this night.

Ranma tapped a few buttons on the keyboard, then settled his hands on the keys. As Tsukasa turned around as Ranma began to play, he nearly dirtied himself from what he saw.

He saw his opponent, eyes glowing—no, his whole BODY seemed to glow—a light red, and a darker, more evil smile than he'd ever had nightmares about nearly consumed Ranma's face. His hair moved all on it's own, as if a wind had entered the room just to perform on that very second…

Ranma's right hand blew through a blinding guitar solo, whil his left supplied a sawtooth base. Both flew across the board, playing as if they had freed themselves from their oppressive arms, and played with a fervor Ranma would barely recall afterwards. Not a single eye in the audience could follow just how fast Ranma was playing, yet, sure enough, he had to be…

The entire crowd and the judges leaned in towards Ranma to see if he could really pull this off. Tsukasa's jaw just about slapped onto the floor.

Even Ranma's head had trouble following his hands. _Wh-what the? Am I realy playing this? I've only learned so much music theory—!"_ nevertheless, his hands continued with their impromptu masterpiece.

Then he switched his hands, playing the same parts in reverse.

Then he played with individual fingers.

Then he…

The tricks were too numerous to follow, but too memorable to forget. All the audience could do was behold this newfound glory and applaud with approval as the song neared its conclusion.

After all… there was still the finale.

Ranma's hands matched each other's patterns on different octaves, with a bit more going on with the sawtooth, accentuating each beat with sheer musical power. The tension filled the room to bursting as he built it up. Higher and higher…

Then…

…the tension released with the finishing chord, using a theatrical-sounding strings patch, which sent the crowd into frenzy.

Only a few minutes later, Ranma was announced the winner, with the audience applauding its massive approval.

"The name's Tonikko."

"Toru." "Turo." "Kasage."

The band members lined up before Ranma to introduce themselves. They were a band of respectable and fairly well-known musicians that had all the material they needed to start… as soon as they could find a keyboard player. They had set up the tournament to make the auditioning process easy, quick, and profitable (each entrant had to pay 500 yen to participate… Ranma had to pay a bit more due to late entry).

"The name's Ranma… Ranma Saotome."

"Nice to meet you, Ranma. Now…" Tonikko straightened up a bit and began the clearly rehearsed run-down. "Are you in this for the love, the money, or the music?"

"Uh, none."

"Self-taught or classically trained?"

"Self-taught."

"Bacon or steak?"

"Yes."

"…" Toni wrote down a few things on his clipboard (wherever he got it from, that is…)

"Okay. Welcome aboard, soldier." Toni faked a salute, which Ranma returned. "This is our ship, the Tourbus-O-Matic-O-Rama." Toni shrugged towards the nearby motorhome. "All equipment goes into the upper storage compartments, which we call the 'attic', unless we're practicing or performing live. You'll sleep in a bunk just above Kasage's, unless you earn the big bed. Got it?"

Ranma didn't flinch. "Get down."

"Huh?"

"_GET DOWN!_"

Ranma tackled Toni down to the ground, as a small blade swung over where they once stood. Ranma rolled to the side and assumed his stance to observe Tsukasa, panting heavily, frothing and foaming at the mouth, with his eyes red and a small blade reflecting the moonlight into Ranma's eyes.

"YOU STOLE EVERYTHING!" he charged at Ranma, who simply sidestepped his drunken blows and stabs.

"My AUDIENCE!" Another swing, another miss.

"My CAREER!" Swoop, nothing clipped.

"My RESPECT!" he swang again, once more to no avail.

"MY CLUB!!" He drove his blade forward, screaming through the list of exactly what Ranma "stole" as the blade merely clipped Ranma's shirt.

"_YOU'RE GONN'A F--KING DIE, YOU F--KING MAGGOT!_"

He swung one last time at Ranma, who was obviously unafraid and unfazed. The blow sliced his arm, as the blood welled up black in the moonlight. The band gasped, and even Tsukasa paused at what he had just done.

Ranma said nothing, and simply smirked with his eyes closed.

His aura glew a brighter red than before, visible to the naked eye, and his eyes seemed to glow the same hue. When he spoke, it seemed to fuse anger, determination, and sarcasm into a perfect, suave package.

"So, now that you've cut me, what is it that you plan to do now? Or is that as far as you planned?" he stepped closer and closer to Tsukasa, who clutched his knife in fear.

"STEP ONE, ALWAYS PLAN AHEAD!" Ranma flip-kicked his attacker's hand, dislodging the knife and shattering the hand.

"STEP TWO, STRIKE _SURE_ AT OPENINGS!" Ranma drove his fist through Tsukasa's face, destroying his nose and breaking several teeth audibly.

"STEP THREE, FINISH THE FIGHT QUICKLY AND SURELY." With that, Ranma let his Amaguriken knock his opponent back a few steps, then aimed his palms at the sore loser (now sore in more ways than one).

With his last conscious breath for the next 24 hours or so, Tsukasa bellowed "GO TO HELL, MAGGOT."

An energy formed to match Ranma's size.

"You know NOTHING of Hell."

The ball shot towards Tsukasa at a frightening speed, blowing him through the wall of the club. A small ruckus rose in the club as they discovered the new door, but Tsukasa was clearly out cold.

Ranma, oddly enough, flew backwards as well. He was stopped only by a vending machine, which exploded upon impact with Ranma the human bullet. Fortunately the sodas inside made the explosion all the softer, if a tad stickier and bigger. The twins Toru and Turo ran to help their new bandmate from the wreckage.

Before they got there, some girl with red hair got up from the wreckage.

Wobbling to her feet, she shook off some of the excess soda dripping on her shirt, which was, thankfully, not one of the "see-through-when-wet" variety. The red hair reflected the moon better than the black hair that once inhabited the bandmate's head, as droplets of sodas that adorned her every ligament did the same. As beautiful as she was at that moment, she was also quite pissed off.

"Hot water. Towel. Now. I'll explain."

Suddenly Toni got the idea that a whole lot more of this was to come… nay, this was only the tip of the iceburg.


	15. Chapter 14

Ranma ½:

Notes of Sorts

By zoupzuop2

Chapter 14

* * *

Flashback finally ceasing, Tonikko sat outside of the room considered how much of this building depression could've been the cause for his good, mindful friend to try to off himself at a dumpy fast food join in the middle of frickin' nowhere. Why didn't Ranma just leave all his problems in Nerima like he had suggested he'd done? Had somebody created a new pain for him here? Did some guy actually get through his defenses? No, He wouldn't have gotten too far before his graphic and painful demise… Nevertheless, the possibilities eluded Toni. 

Kasage left Ranma's temporary room and reported the results to Tonikko.

"She's coherent and breathing fine. A few scars will show up, but nothing more."

Tonikko thanked… Kami? Lucky Stars? Flying Spaghetti Monster? …Well, whoever was there to listen had his thanks.

Now for the hard part. Toni slowly re-entered the room, silent and wary. He didn't want to startle Ranma into some sort of heightened state of something-rather, if that's what it meant. So, he continued to tiptoe to the chair beside the bed, where Kasage had once sat.

Ranma was covered now only by the blanket Kasage had provided after the cuts were treated. Her face reflected a slight relief, rather likely due to the crying. Part of her hair was leaning down towards the pillow, while the rest stayed in its usual place. For a near-suicidal chick, she didn't look half-bad, Toni smirked to himself.

"You don't... have to tiptoe, it's not... like I'm... napping."

"Oh, really?"

"Really. Beauty... naps ain't my... thing." Ranma joked softly.

"God…" Toni put his hand to his face and sighed.

"Huh?"

"Why were you cut up, why were you in the girls' restroom, where did you get that knife… AND WHY THE F--- DID YOU TRY TO TAKE MY GOOD FRIEND FROM ME?"

Ranma squirmed in the covers. She wasn't used to seeing Toni act like this, at least, not for the same reasons. After a second of gathering her energy, she spoke. "I'm… not as strong… as you think I am…"

"What, this is about STRENGTH for you? Is it such a huge problem you can ONLY lift the frickin' bus? You gunning to leap tall buildings now? Is that what's wrong?"

"Hey, it's not that... kind of strength." Ranma panted, trying to keep her energy in the discussion.

"…I'm sorry, man. Just…" Toni calmed himself down a bit, pausing to fight back this new emotion. After a minute or two of him trying to keep things under control, he finally brought up the one question he always wanted to ask.

"You never left your home problems at home, did you?"

"…no. Good lord, no. They... just won't go away."

"Tell me about 'em."

And with that, Ranma began to tell Tonikko of more pain and agony than he'd ever fantasized possible.

* * *

A dark figure sped through the fields near a town in the middle of nowhere. He cut a random, erratic pattern through the brush, so it was obvious he had been to a multitude of middles of nowhere before coming upon this one. It was also apparent that he didn't know a middle of nowhere if he ever saw one. 

He grinned to himself as he ran. "Just you wait, Ranma Saotome… this isn't the same Ryoga Hibiki you're used to!"

Finally, the town peaked in the horizon. Ryoga thought about it a while, then looked for the nearest food joint as he sped forward and the signs became more legible. There was only so much running at obscene kilometers-per-hour a man can take without fuel, y'know? He finally found what he was looking for, after a small amount of searching and scanning.

"Naomi's Seafood Joint? It'll have to do…"

Having been assigned to do so, Turo was waiting for the order Kasage had placed. The order was taking a while, so he was reading a magazine on World Musicians. This one was a back issue, discussing the advent of Eurobeat fusing from Italo-Disco and J-Pop. The noise was at a low hustle, so he wasn't too disturbed in his efforts to calm down. After _that_ little incident, he didn't want much more than to simply relax.

"ORDER 93!"

Turo approached the counter, presented the receipt, and picked up the bags. As he turned around he noticed a depressed-looking youth with a bandanna getting in line. His body seemed to emanate a suppressed gloom and an anxious potential both at once, and his eyes were obviously used to seeing many of the less beautiful places of the world. The tiger-striped bandana did little to cheer up his disposition.

Turo decided it wasn't worth the time to help him out, so he began to walk out the door and towards the motor-home.

Ryoga walked into the restaurant as gloomy as ever. He made his way into the line and stood to wait. After a few minutes he got somewhat bored, so he tried to find faces he might've seen in the Nerima area.

_Nope, too calm._

_Eh, might be a visitor._

_Ugh! He must've lost his way to Akibahara! Stupid otaku gaijin._

_Nope, too old._

_--wait a minute, have I seen HIM around?_

Ryoga shot a glance at the man walking out the door. Somehow he seemed familiar… wasn't he the one guy from that one band with his twin brother? Yeah… yeah, that was the bass player from Bad Shoes, no doubts there! Being an avid fan of Bad Shoes and member of the fan club (although, with the recent post-count contest from this one bizarre girl from Nerima, he considered quitting), he absolutely _had_ to—

No. He would just ask if he knew which way the Tendo Dojo was, like before. That's ALL. Certainly, asking for an autograph or something like that would be demeaning.

With that in mind, he headed for the door.

* * *

Turo was almost at the door of the motor-home when he heard a voice behind him. 

"Excuse me, Turo?"

Turo turned around and acknowledged the stranger.

"Yeah, you called?"

Ryoga finally approached the bass player.

"Err, you're the Bass player, right?"

_Ugh. Another fan. At least this one won't try to molest me._

"Yeah, would you like an autograph?"

"Uh, no thanks, maybe when next we meet. Would you happen to know where Nerima is?

"Sorry, I don't. I hardly even know where I am at any given time."

"It's okay… eh, would you happen to know where a Tendo Dojo is?"

"Look, I'm not good with places. I'm pretty sure someone else is, though."

"Okay… thank you."

Turo turned back to the van.

"Oh, before you go…"

"Yeah?"

"What's the lead singer's name? Like, not his nickname, but his _real_ name?"

"Oh, you mean Ranma. His name's—?"

Ryoga glared into the man's face, with his eyes burning of fire.

"_WHAT? Do you mean RANMA SAOTOME?!?_"

"Yeah, that's his name. Do y'know him?"

Ryoga shook his head in shock, pausing a moment to let that information sink in. "I've been lost for the longest time looking for him! That bastard's been _singing_ with you guys this WHOLE TIME?"

"Yeah, since day one."

"I don't believe this. If he _has_…" Ryoga cracked his knuckles. Turo was confused as to why this random stranger wanted to pick a fight with Ranma. Sure, he'd had his share of stalkers, but this one seemed more vengeful.

"You'll do no such thing."

"Really?" Ryoga smirked at the bass player. "And why is that?"

Turo tried to assess the situation. Angry fan, north. RV motor-home, south. Beaten-up, cut-to-shreds and currently-female Ranma, south. How could he stop this fan without someone getting hurt? It's not like he could let this fan waltz right up to Ranma and—

Or, maybe he could.

"Alright, I'll lead you to Saotome."

"Fine, if you persis—huh?" Ryoga was thrown off guard at Turo's compliance. He expected band members to be a bit more protective of their fellow band members, especially from random nemeses. Why would this one be any different?

"C'mon in." Turo motioned to Ryoga to follow him to the door, and knocked.

"Password?"

"Sonic Escapade. VIP."

The door opened, and Turo led Ryoga to the door to Ranma's room, then walked to a cupboard and began to extract white capsules and white tape.

"Knock and see if the coast is clear."

Ryoga was a bit hesitant. Why was Turo wanting him to open the door? What was going on?"

"How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR _NOW_."

It was so.


End file.
